I am still waiting to find out the particulars about vehicles, Joel.

Some of the safari companies use hard roofed vehicles with roof ports, and some are entirely open vehicles. In East Africa I wonder if they favor open roofed vehicle, in which case, the roof based tripod support Andy linked won't work.. I will take a Kinesis bean bag for sure, and I think I may lean towards RRS's ground pod
- a very short metal tripod that I could add a Wimberly Sidekick too. The ground pod splays out completely flat, so will work on a flat surface. If I do I will need a screw type Arca Clamp for my Sidekick, to keep it from sliding out unexpectedly.

A Sidekick is much lighter than my Wimberly head.

I'm getting them :D

A good read on Luminous-Lanscape - it's from a couple years ago, but still very appropriate
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/es...ari-Tips.shtml

Reinforces that you simply can't have enough reach.

Re: stabilizing and mounting in the vehicles, here's another option I'll check on!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ks_P...layer_embedded

:D

Convinced me that 400mm is not long enough. Leave the wides at home Andy, we won't be doing night shots in the bush, I suspect :wink

I read that Luminous Landscape link just the other day. Great information - You DID note the author also, didn't you? Quite a remarkable fellow.

He raises some interesting questions about how we will manage getting all our batteries charged in the field too. How many camera batteries can a single vehicle charge at the same time?

The youtube video from the folks at RRS is quite interesting, but i do have some reservations about how well a rigid mounted gimbal head will actually work in a vehicle that will have several people moving about while shooting. A tripod on the deck of a boat really doesn't offer that much help over hand holding a camera, and even though the Land Rover has stopped, the suspension will still shift a bit with passengers shifting their weight, won't it? I really wonder if bean bags may be more effective but am willing to listen and learn.

Every vehicle has charging station for multiple photographers - so every day, while we're out in the field and in the vehicles, you'll be able to charge your batteries. This is in addition to the charging capabilities at our lodges and even our luxury tented camp. We've absolutely thought this through and it's not an issue at all.

Good to hear that - I thought that was likely, but I am a belt and suspenders kind of fellow...

Gotta say, I had a wonderful day perusing photos and gear for and about Africa!

The temperatures are expected to range from the mid 80-'s during the day, and into the 50's late at night - is that about correct, Andy?

Yup, close - see #6 here http://www.muenchworkshops.com/Works...12500481_Qbjhg

I corrected my lower figure to match the brochure - good to confirm.

I'm going to do my best to keep up with new threads that are posted from this trip. They'll be in the first post in this thread.

Please, if you see one that I've missed, let me know and I'll add it! :clap

Bump for more threads added to the index in the first post!

This was just not an issue at all, not anywhere we were.